Black Sweat Italy レコード& CD

Review: In a commendable bid to musically relive and recapture the philosopher Plato's infamous cave allegory, explorer, researcher, paleorganologist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Walter Maioli makes a welcome return on the Black Sweat label. Here the Italian polymath keeps it simple in sound but expansive in concept; his specialism in the musicology of ancient societies resounds especially on this calming release, which investigates the secret dialogue between the trickling of pond waters and the faint percussive reverberations of stalagmites and stalagtites, all through the resonant chimes of mallet instruments such as tubular organs, Tibetan bells, glockenspiels, xylophones or stone marimbas. With seemingly every ding and bong sound at his disposal, Caverne Sonore makes for one of the most relaxing yet also the most engaging records of the year, one that admittedly beckons us further into the cave.

Review: RECOMMENDED
It's not overtly clear whether or not Persona are trying to terrify us, send us down spiralling stairs of Escher-esque madness or simply explore new ideas in sound with Som. The Brazilian outfit barely managed to register with anyone but the most die-hard psyche rock fans of the 1970s, but our era of reappraisals, reissues and resurrections seems to be setting that record straight because when all is said and done they are very, very good indeed.

Don't expect a huge amount of tangibility to cling on to, though. These are the place where it's essential to let go of expectations around rhythm, structure and even sound. Opening with metronomic ticking and echoed vocals, tracks one and two are indistinguishable, and land us at the alien warbles and spatiality of 'Ceu', which is really the ending of the intro. From there, we have funk ('Terra'), tribal percussion ('Fogo') and trippy, alluring but edgy vocal solos ('Agua'), to name but a handful of styles.